The documentary feature film Dance of the Maize God explores the royal life and rich mythology of the Maya, as well as the tangled issues involved in the collection and study of Maya art. The film will be followed by a discussion featuring the film's director and a panel of archaeologists.

Using examples from the collections of the Gardiner Museum, this lecture will examine the stories behind a wide range of decorative motifs and scenes found on blue and white porcelains of the 16th to 18th centuries. It will begin with a history of symbolic motifs in Chinese art and will proceed to examine a range of motifs in detail, explaining their meanings and their origins.

Speaker: Dr. Stacey Pierson, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Chinese Ceramics at SOAS, University of London

In the early 1960s, David Waterhouse was an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum. He will recall his experiences of working under Basil Gray, Soame Jenyns, William Watson and other luminaries of a bygone era.

Empty Bowls is a North American-wide project to aid the homeless. More than 400 bowls are donated by potters, potter’s guilds and students at schools teaching pottery, and delicious soups are prepared and ladled out by Ontario's most eminent chefs.